Hair Fair opens tomorrow and the blogs are now busting with the new styles. Check them all out and make sure you join the Hair Fair Demo Group so you can get the demos BEFORE you go shopping and save yourself a lot of heartache. Demos have already started dropping, so join the group and check past notices.

When you get to Hair Fair, make sure you check out Queue Marlowe’s newest styles, including one that is a redone version of a classic SL hair. Named after a few of Queue’s favorite things, the hairs come with her great texture-change HUD, hairbases, and Queue’s own bit of magic.

I styled Queue’s hair with one of Nicole Button’s newest skins, a luscious look that comes with appliers galore, including appliers for the Belleza body. I found that if I forewent using the neck fixer, things looked just fine. I am sure Nicole will be updating her appliers for the new body soon. My top is one of Flutter Memel’s gorgeous pieces for Collabor88 (with matching skirt, which you barely see).

Hair by Queue Marlowe for Analog Dog, available at Hair Fair 2015 (opens July 11) *

“When I learned about the gray existing between the black and white of absolute terms, I began to experience more peace. The more I expanded my gray areas (more than 50 shades), the more peace I experienced in my life.” ~ David W. Earle

I assembled a black and white look today that is not really so black and white. First a cute minidress from Aikea Reiko, who always offers her mesh pieces in tons and tons of great textures, including this great pinstripe. My jewelry from Maxi Gossamer for Shiny Shabby has texture change options for each feather and the beads so you can assemble a funky look in a variety of color combos. My shoes are Glamistry’s 21Shoe exclusive for TODAY ONLY. It includes two awesome textures in gold and silver, which you can mix and match to make an awesome look. Of course, I chose all silver for the almost black-and-white look.

Aleida Rhode is offering this awesome hand-drawn skin at Skin Fair. It comes with appliers for everything and options for brow color and style plus freckles or not. These are more natural freckles than many, covering the body as well as the face. I put on glossy lipstick from Constance Daehlie to up my look. Queue Marlowe’s poofy floofy corkscrew curls complete the look, and I chose one of her ombre mixes to make it really pop.

Barely’s always spinning what he calls “alt country” or what is now called “Americana,” and it’s quite come in vogue lately with some fabulous artists making music the way it’s supposed to be. I don’t think Barely brought Sturgill Simpson to me but he likes him as much as I do. I have been enjoying his album while doing this blog post and loved some of the lyrics, so that’s the title of the blog today.

Sometimes I think SL creations are a bit of everyone’s “little light within” given to all of us. Think about this once: where else in your life are you treated to so many people’s artistic and creative efforts, sold to you for so little to shape and light up your life? For example, this dress from Paul Lapointe and Bastchild Lotus is so sexy and so well rigged and textured, but on top of that, engineered in collaboration between two people who live and love together. As I put it on, this collection of pixels, I marvel at its thoughtfulness and engineering, the sculptural qualities of the mesh, the proportions and “idea” of it, I think, well damn, can’t get that kind of experience for $2 anywhere else, right?

Then you have Maxi Gossamer’s mesh jewelry with her added touches of texture change and materials, the sexy boots engineered around the Belleza foot by Kenadeecole, and even the little dragonfly ring I got in a gacha from Piraiyah Novikov—each piece someone’s inner light shining.

Another miracle is how everyone’s light shines together. I am thinking of things like Sawsan Secretspy’s textures made into scripts for Tricky’s mesh body and Siddean Munro’s mesh feet and hands. And then Santana Lumiere’s nails applied to the hands and feet. And Queue Marlowe’s crazy waves fit to the body and gorgeous eyes from Nicole Button. I feel illuminated, lit within, by all the beauty and creativity this adds up to and absolutely amazed by how I can make this coherent “person” from such a melange of ideas and creations.

“I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says “Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.” ~ Lewis Carroll

A walk in the woods is good for the soul, especially on a brisk sunny winter day. I slipped out to the KittyCatS Winterland to take photos of this great outfit: a mesh top from Fae Eriksen that she is featuring at Winter Trend, including materials on the mesh, and tights from Lisanna Lauria that will be sold at the soon-to-open Frost. Boots from Senzati0n Domenitzo, also at Winter Trend, keep my feet warm.

I donned Shyla Diggs’s beautiful skin to feature new eyes from Constance Daehlie and this pretty holly accessory that Taiko McCaw is offering at Frost when it opens. (I can imagine many pretty photos coming from this look).

Most importantly, however, is the GIFT that Queue Marlowe is offering in the KittyCatS & Friends Advent Calendar today, a beautiful up-do available in three colors: cinnamon stick, snickerdoodle and sugar cookie. Queue made these colors JUST for this calendar, so get it now!!

“Don’t save something for a special occasion. Every day of your life is a special occasion.” ~ Thomas S. Monson

With all the snow-covered sims and sleighs and jingle bells, it’s hard to remember that a majority of the world does not celebrate a white Christmas, especially if you’re from the cold and wintery North as I am. Truth is, most enjoy their holiday with sunshine outside and the doors open or the AC on.

Somnia Snowpaw’s beautiful gift for the KittyCatS & Friends Advent Calendar is a reminder that some girls go to holiday parties in pretty dresses that are not velvet but cool cotton and in this case, open in the back. I love this dress template and Somnia has done something very special with it with this dress. Having a floral pattern on the skirt with a beautifully shaded top, it’s a gorgeous gift.

My shoes are Eudora 3D’s latest for Uber and a gorgeous pair with a texture change HUD with the lovely paisley pattern in black, brown or white on a texture-change HUD. It’s a perfect match for this lovely dress.

Every day the KittyCatS & Friends Advent Calendar has been issuing two gifts—one for anyone and one specifically for KittyCatS lovers but today there is a double bonus for everyone. Sawsan Secretspy has created this gorgeous skin as a gift for the calendar. With beautifully lined eyes and a pink shadow plus a neutral lipstick, the skin is a beautiful gift for any day of the season but it looks especially perfect with Somnia’s dress! Queue Marlowe’s new ‘do with a curly ponytail brought around to the side and bangs in front.

I think baking cookies is equal to Queen Victoria running an empire. There’s no difference in how seriously you take the job, how seriously you approach your whole life. ~ Martha Stewart

It’s Saturday and I simply don’t want to get up and get dressed. I want to mosey around the house and do housework and bake Christmas cookies in my pajamas, so Ivey Deschanel gave me the perfect opportunity to do so with her pajama bottoms, today’s gift for the KittyCatS & Friends Advent Calendar. I paired it with the top to an outfit Moonbubble Gothly is giving out as a gift and the grooviest slippers from Parallaxx (they even have paws on the bottom).

Queue Marlowe recently put out this disheveled up-do, which suits this look ideally with its casual loop of hair and wild tendrils and bangs. My plain but pretty skin is from Syane Cisse, and of course, I pulled out accessories from Redd Columbia, because.. cookies, right? (I have approximately 12 dozen cookies in the freezer already for the holiday. Want to offer me your favorite cookie recipe? I want to get it!)

My friend just got back from a week plus in Paris. It was a wonderful visit, a chance to wander around one of his favorite cities, revisit his French, and enjoy the colors and cuisines. At one point, he told me, he looked at the cost of flats in Paris. He really wanted to stay. I understand that feeling. I had done the same the last time I was there.

He pointed out to me that two young ladies who helped him with some work he was doing there were typically Parisian—they wore their clothes with a casual elegance that only Parisian girls manage. I hope I get a measure of that elegance with this look. Start with a coat from Erratic Rain, beautifully rendered in 100% original mesh with a great texture change hud for the buttons and sleeves and available in 10 colors.

I switched the sleeves to white so I could wear it with this darling asymmetric skirt from Areve, who is having a sale at her new location. This skirt comes in 5 colors on a handy HUD and in you can get four different versions. I happened to pick up several things.

Terrie Dreadlow is also having a sale in honor of her 6th rez day and I got these darling t-straps meant for Slink feet but also fit Belleza mesh body feet with minor adjustment. The shoes have a great color change HUD and are also modifiable (so I could darken the red to match). At 66L, these shoes were a STEAL.

Umazuma Metaluna has released the bare Hazel skins and I gladly donned one with a great lipstick from Zxxrysa Magic, free in the Dirty Turkey Hunt. Long wavy locks from Ms. Queue Marlowe give the final touch.